Parish of Jarrow Team Ministry

St Paul's Church web Page

St Paul's is a living church, the parish church of Jarrow. Visitors are welcome to explore this building. The chancel is a direct survival from the 7th century when it was a free-standing chapel in the monastery.


St Paul's Church, Jarrow	The Chancel at St Paul's

Inside the church, cemented into the wall of the tower, is the original stone slab which records in a Latin inscription the dedication of the church on 23 April AD 685.

This translates as: The dedication of the basilica of St. Paul on the 9th day before the Kalens of May in the 15th year of King Ecgfrith and in the fourth year of Abbot Ceolfrith founder, by God's guidance, of the same church.

The inscription reads:

DEDICATIO BASILICAE
SCI PAUL VIIII KL MAI
ANNO XV EFRIDI REG
CEOLFRIDI ABB EIUSDEM
Q ECCLES DO AVCTORE
CONDITORIS ANNO IIII

Picture of Bede

Depiction of The Venerable Bede

Behind the church you can see remains of the Benedictine monastery of the Middle Ages which was re-founded on the site of Bede's monastery. Remains of buildings, from the days of Bede, were found in excavations and their positions have been marked out on the ground.

Opening times:

St. Paul's Church is opened by volunteers, and can usually be visited during the following times:

Monday - Saturday: 10.00 - 4.00
Sunday: 2.30 - 4.00

Church closing time each day is 3pm from December to the end of January, each year. The church / shop doesn’t open between Christmas and New Year.

To contact St Paul's Church, phone: 0191 489 7052
To contact the Parish Office, phone: 0191 489 1925

Our team rector is The Revd William (Bill) Braviner.

Some Key Facts about St Paul's:

St Paul's Church and Monastery was built on land given by King Ecgfrith of Northumbria in AD 681.

It was founded by Benedict Biscop, who seven years previously had built the church and monastery of St. Peter's at Wearmouth. The chancel of St. Paul's is the original Saxon church built as a separate chapel possibly dedicated to Our Lady.

A large Basilica was built on the site of the present nave and dedicated on 23rd April, AD 685. The present nave and north aisle are the work of the Victorian architect Sir George Gilbert Scott. The monastery, to which the Venerable Bede came as a boy, thrived in the 7th and 8th centuries. It was here that Bede lived, worked and worshipped. His bones now lie in the Galilee Chapel of Durham Cathedral. In AD 794 the Vikings sacked the church and monastery, but in 1074 the church was repaired and the monastery re-founded by Aldwin, Prior of Winchcombe Abbey in Gloucestershire. The monastery then became a daughter house of the Benedictine Community at Durham.

At the Dissolution of the Monasteries, St. Paul's became a Parish Church.

Today the church is part of the Parish of Jarrow Team Ministry within the Church of England Diocese of Durham.

Things to see:

7th CENTURY FOUNDATIONS
Exposed in the main aisle is part of the north wall of the larger Saxon Church.

SAXON CROSS
In the centre of the North Nave Exhibition, the foot of a fine Saxon Cross with its Latin inscription 'In this unique sign, life is restored to the world'.

THE DEDICATION STONE
Now situated high above the Chancel arch.

SAXON CHANCEL
Look for:- Three single splayed Saxon windows - the middle window containing Saxon glass made in the Monastic workshops.

The Saxon Aumbry - in the south wall of the sanctuary. An Ancient Chair- known and at one time venerated as Bede's.
Late 15th Century Choir stalls - on the north side.

EXHIBITION OF SCULPTURE
A unique collection of Anglo-Saxon Sculpture in the North Aisle. The three wooden sculptures:
The Risen Ascended Christ
The Venerable Bede.
St. Michael and the Devil.
are the work of Fenwick Lawson.

THE MONASTIC SITE
Outside the Church are the remains of the domestic buildings of the Monastery.
The standing ruins dating mostly from the llth Century.

THE PRAYER OF THE VENERABLE BEDE
I Pray you, good Jesus, that as you have given me the grace to drink in with joy the Word that gives knowledge of you, so in your goodness you will grant me to come at length to yourself, the source of all wisdom, to stand before your face forever.